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Thursday, June 11, 2015

Comic Critique: Thor, The Goddess of Thunder

Marvel Comics have done much to bring a more balanced view
of the world in the last several years.
We have had Carol Danvers step up to the mantle of Captain Marvel,
becoming the preeminent female superhero of the Marvel Universe. We have had
newcomer fangirl Kamala Khan take up her idol’s mantle in kind by becoming the
new Ms. Marvel. Spider-Man spinoff
characters Silk and Spider-Gwen have sprang to life, with the latter actually
outselling Spider-Man himself multiple times.
Storm, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Black Widow, Squirrel Girl, and others
have gotten their own ongoing series. No
longer relegated to limited series or team member status, women are finally getting
a spotlight in the center of the Marvel Universe.

She may seem all fun and games, but don't tickle Thor.
Seriously. Don't tickle Thor.

Floating high in space (and sometimes grounded down in the
middle of Oklahoma), the shining citadel of Asgard has always represented the
pinnacle of power in Marvel. The Mighty
Thor was the hero who seemed to be simply entertained by joining with his
friends and their mortal adventures. After all, he is a god and they are just
men. The world of Thor is one of the few
in Marvel Comics that allows for a more “pure” fantasy experience. Where the others are often in New York and occasionally
travel to other parts of the world, with the rare few exploring new worlds
across the cosmos, Thor with a swing of his hammer and a call out for the
Bifrost can be in a lush green forest filled with elves, or an icy mountainous
landscape where he must face the Frost Giants, or a dark murky bog with all
sorts of mythical beasts. Thor’s writers
are never as constrained by any of the rules that hold back other heroes. In fact, to me, Thor’s best stories are when
he’s just doing his thing in any of the Nine Realms EXCEPT Midgard (Earth to us
Muggles… wait, I mean humans). With Mjolnir at his side, he was the only hero who was worthy of this power.

But the Thor we knew and loved became unworthy due to a
whisper from Nick Fury. His hammer
dropped in the Blue Area of the Moon and sat there. Thor tried to lift it and
failed. Odin tried and failed. But someone lifted it. With the famed
inscription upon Mjolnir transforming to add an “S,” it now read “WHOSOEVER
HOLDS THIS HAMMER, IF SHE BE WORTHY SHALL HAVE THE POWER OF THOR.” And in Thor Odinson’s mind, this also meant
that she was the only one worthy of the name and title of Thor. He told
everyone to call him the Odinson.

Pictured: Fanboys every Wednesday that had a new issue of Thor

The Thor title with its mysterious female lead has three
primary antagonists. The threat of
Darrio Agger, with his mysterious ties to the power of the Minotaur and control
over the Roxxon Corporation, the only company more evil than Oscorp, is aimed
at making a profit by poisoning the world.
The king of the Dark Elves, Malekith, leads a group of Frost Giants to
reclaim the skull of their king, and Loki’s true father, Laufey, while rampaging
across Earth and taunting the Odinson. Finally, the citizens of Asgard itself
are against her, as the Odinson seeks to discover her identity and reclaim his
hammer, Odin is disgusted at a woman taken what he believes to be a man’s
right, and Cul piloting the Destroyer armor to forcefully relieve her of
Mjolnir.

Our heroine grabs the hammer at the tail end of the first
issue and is transformed. She seeks to
protect the Earth from its threats, but is kept from stopping the threats of
neither Agger nor Malekith because of the Odinson attacking her. As in the original Thor stories, or the first
Thor movie, Thor comes to an understanding of humanity. Where he needed
humility and to walk as a mortal man to earn the right to be worthy and lift
the hammer, now he uses that humility to understand that it is another’s time
to wield Mjolnir. He gracefully supports
her, but is still consumed by the weight of Fury’s words as well as a need to
know who is the worthy woman.

Heimdall can see anything that moves in the Nine Realms,but can he see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

This leaves Agger and Malekith to come to an agreement with
one another and become allies. The
interesting thing is that even though Agger is poisoning the Earth and has his
eye on killing and plundering other realms and Malekith is a wicked murderer
who delights in suffering, the real despicable character is Odin. The antiquated views of misogyny he spews are
grating, annoying, and frustrating. All the more so when you see such vitriolic
vocal minorities speaking against the idea of the female Thor, mimicking Odin's very fatal character flaw. And condescendingly
calling her things like Thorina because they didn’t read or refused to understand
why she is called Thor. The reason she is called Thor is the same that Eric
Masterson was called Thor, and our Odinson renounced his name. Any argument to the contrary comes off
childish when the book is presented in such a straight-forward manner and
delivers very good amounts of action along with an intriguing mystery, and my
naming of those who complain about our female Thor as vocal minorities is
proven by the fact that the book is selling record numbers. Female Thor outsold the male by a wide margin
and the book has been in Marvel’s top 10 selling titles each month it came out.

Freyja is gonna make Odin sleep on the couch for a few milleniaOr whatever ancient Norse gods use for couches.

As for the art, Thor has not looked this beautiful in
years. The brighter colors, the detailed
backgrounds, each character having an entire unique look to them. These all
work to make this book a must-read title with its gorgeous illustration. The writing keeping the same author from the Thor:
God of Thunder title showed that this new series was a direct continuation.
A plan that had been laid out in the previous 24-issue series, not some rushed
attempt to simply gender-bend a famous superhero for a sales boost. The organic build to this storyline, without
using the tired premise of Thor having died and needing replaced, is why this
was a success. While issues 2 and 3 were
a bit slower and felt somewhat disappointing as standalones, once you have the
full run of the 8 issue series leading into Secret Wars, Thor is a
well-crafted excellent story.

Unlike Marvel, I won't go and spoil who the new Thor is because that mystery is the crown jewel on this godly title.

Hey girl, we got your back!

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